from the Paris Review interview with J. P. Donleavy

INTERVIEWER

How did you motivate yourself?

DONLEAVY

That was easy. It was simply money and fame. I was aware as anyone is, that in this world you can just be swept away. I’m aware of this just as much now. New York is a great place to be reminded of it. You arrive here, and Good Lord, you find out in ten seconds that nothing whatever matters, especially your own small life. So I knew I had to write a book that would be the best work in the world. It was that simple.

rest here.  FYI The Ginger Man is not the best work in the world.  Some writers are better at playing writer than writing.  There is a sentence or two in The Ginger Man that I think about lots, though.